These are the thoughts and observations of me — a woman of a certain age. (Oh, my, God, I'm 60!) I'm single. I'm successful enough (independent, self supporting). I live in the burbs and work in the city (Chicago, the best city in the world). I'm an aunt, a friend and a colleague. I feel that voices like mine are rather underrepresented online or in print. So here I am. If my musings resonate with you, please visit my blog again sometime.

I soaked in the tub. The warm water gave me some measure of relief. I gulped Naproxen (Aleve). I peed through a strainer (I retrieved nothing). The pain ebbed a bit. I thought if I slept for a while, I'd feel better.

I didn't. I felt worse. The pain spread to my back. I was nauseous, but I was only throwing up water because that's all that was in my stomach.

I called the office and told them to forget it, I wouldn't be there Monday. I called my doctor and explained my symptoms. She told me to pick up a pair of prescriptions at Walgreens and to take one of each, right away. Then, if I didn't feel better within the hour, I should go to the ER.I freaked. I don't want to go to the hospital! I don't want to be cut!

"No, no." She assured me. She doesn't believe my kidney stone warrants surgery. It was my pain that worried her. She believed that my nausea was a reaction the extreme pain, and knew that an ER had medications and means that were beyond her.

"Oh!"

And you know what? Within an hour of taking the hydrocodone/aspirin, I was asleep. When I woke a few hours later, the pain had abated.

Better living through chemistry!

The second pill is an alpha blocker. It helps relax the muscles, making it easier for the stone to pass. Hopefully, it will work as predicted.

3 comments:

Let me preface by saying this is not advice! Were they able to analyze your kidney stone? My daughter had one when she was 15 (very young) and it was very large. Due to her blood work they could see that she had a large amount of calcium in her blood. A friend of mine had a family that had kidney stones on a regular basis and they found a doctor who told them they were low on calcium. They started taking a supplement and never had another stone. Apparently, when your calcium is low, it stimulates the body to do something and this causes the stones. I hope you get relief SOON!